Ealing Autumn Festival, 2013

David took part in the Ealing Autumn Festival as both pianist and conductor. The festival celebrated the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Britten. The Addison Singers joined Voskresenije, a group of professional singers from St Petersburg, in works by Rachmaninov and Shostakovitch (in Russian of course!), under the expert guidance of Jurij Maruk. David then conducted the Addison Singers in Britten’s ‘Hymn to St Cecilia’ and folk settings by Percy Grainger, and directed both choirs in the sacred Russian Hymn ‘Kontakion’ and a setting by Shostakovitch of ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’!
 
A few days later David joined his piano duo partner Janet Obi in a programme of works for two pianos that included Britten’s ‘Mazurka Elegiaca’ as well as music by Percy Grainger, Lennox Berkeley, Arthur Benjamin and the world premiere of a recently discovered work by William Alwyn (1905-85) – ‘Two Intermezzi’ for two pianos.